Sand mining: NGT notice to UP, Haryana

DMs Directed To Ensure Ban In Their Areas

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought responses from the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments on a plea alleging that illegal sand mining is still going on in some districts of the two states. A bench, headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, directed the district magistrates and senior superintendents of police to ensure that a ban on sand mining is being followed in their areas. The lawyer, appearing for the petitioner in the case, claimed that illegal sand mining is happening on the banks of river Betwa in Jhansi and Jalaun districts (UP) and Faridabad (Haryana), under the guise of clearing out dump. “A very unique strategy has been adopted by them,” he said, adding that sand mining is also being done under the garb of removing sand deposited by the rivers on agricultural fields. The petition alleges the illegal mining of sand is happening with the help of the state government which has allowed people to stock-up sand and sell it later. It also says there are over 13 mining areas in the two districts where sand is being removed without environmental clearance and without paying royalty to the government. The petition relating to illegal sand mining in Faridabad was filed by Ashok Kumar who has alleged that sand is being removed from the Yamuna in violation of the NGT’s orders. NGT had banned mining or removal of sand, without a clearance, from river beds across the country on August 5 and in its August 14 order extended the ban to beaches. Sand mining is a menace that has been going on unchecked for years on the river beds of Uttar Pradesh. However, it suddenly came on the media radar in July this year when UP government allegedly suspended Gautam Budh Nagar’s SDM Durga Shakti Nagpal for a her crackdown against some powerful sand mining mafia of the NCR region. Although the UP government reinstated her after facing much embarrassment, the mining department’s own record show that the revenue from mining has jumped after stringent action was taken to stop illegal activities.